This is conveyed in “Pride and Prejudice”, when Elizabeth and Darcy see each other for the first time at the ball in chapter four. Here, Mr. Darcy speaks of Elizabeth after Mr. Bingley fawns over her, “She is tolerable; but not enough to tempt me,” (Austen 11) Austen shows the significance of having a great first impression on someone through Elizabeth's hurt after her poor first impression on Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth later confides in Lydia about his comment saying “I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” (Austen 27) For a long time after this, Elizabeth had a bad impression of him and thought he was snobbish and arrogant. By saying that her pride was “mortified” because she had a negative first impression and Mr. Darcy did not think she was pretty enough for him, Elizabeth shows that he damaged her self esteem. By conveying the damage that their meeting did to her feelings, Austen shows the thought that first impressions do not only affect the way someone views another, but also can damage people's self esteem. That is significant because it shows how meaningful first impressions were in the Regency period, and how they still are today, as so many people relate to the book and …show more content…
Many people in the Regency period and nowadays put to much pressure on first impressions, when many things could alter how you wish to present yourself to someone and how you actually come across. By showing the reader that first impressions have meaning and then going on to say that first impressions are wrong, Austen is critiquing the social practices of Elizabeth’s community. She conveys the idea that we makeup someone’s personality from nothing. As a result, Austen is showing that the way we perceive each other in social situations is unjustifiable, because we use assumptions to place meaning in places where it does not exist. By showing that first impressions, though important in our society, place meaning in the wrong places, Austen sends the message that social interactions in society are not always fair and should not be taken as seriously as they are taken